I bought a set of UST mountain kingīs... should I have got non UST? am I a jerk?

Hello all,

I have an XT wheelset, Iīm running it with a pair of non UST Highrollers without tubes (only using Stanīs liquid), they have worked great for me except for one sudden deflation (burp or whatever you call it ), but I needed to buy another set of wheels in order to put the XT on a HT Gary fisher I had dissasembled.

Well, today I bought a Mavic Crossmax SLR wheelset which is supposed to weight 1520 grs. I was decided to buy another set of non UST Highrollers and run them tubeless but the store owned really recommended me to buy tubeless tires despite the weight penalty (660 grs for each Conti MK) because he told be these tires would not burp, so they would avoid any damage to the wheels.

Also I wanted to try different tires others than the HR as they are the only ones I have ever used.

Ok, so along with the wheels and stanīs liquid, both wheels weighted 3040 grs, which means that with 1320 grs of both tires, and if the wheels really weight 1520 grs, there should be 200 grs of stans liquid.

I donīt know about you but I think this is a heavy setup, so my concern now is if I should have bought the non ust HRīs or if this heavier tires are a better choice.

So I also wonder now this: If non UST tires perform equally (Iīm only supposing this) than UST tires, whatīs the point of buying them if you can just put Stanīs liquid in them and voilá!

no - not really. Without sealant you have almost the same chances to get a flat than with any other tire as well. UST is better protected against cuts because of the sturdier carcass but against penetrating objects it is not much different. So you too need sealant which adds even more weight.

Crossmax's to work great with UST & tube type tires

your'e not a wally for buying UST tires to suit the rims - you just have a pretty much bullet proof wheelset now

i've found my Crossmax's to work great with UST & tube type tires

before the Raven 26x2.0 (front) Crow 26x2.0 (rear) with Hutchinson sealant, i was rolling RK WC 26x2.2 with Hutchinson sealant & before that Racing Ralph EVO 26x2.1 ect, blah.. not used UST tires with that wheelset since 2006

currently the wife has Mountain King Protection 26x2.2 on her XTR UST wheelset, they are working great with some Hutchinson sealant, but the tire weights vary immensely between 577g - 622g

Ok guys I feel kinda relieved now, even do I donīt like the weight penalty on running tubeless AND sealant, but if itīs the best combo Iīll keep it.
As far as it looks, the MK will not last much so if I donīt like their performance Iīll go back to highrollers.
Kenda nevegals have a great rep too, the problem is that they are VERY heavy as well.

BTW, Culturesponge, how can that tire be 100 grs lighter than the ones I just bought? Even do they are not UST they are supposed to be on the heavy side

I ran the MK 2.2 UST, both front and rear, for almost a year with no sealant. Wheelset is the Shimano XT 775 UST.

Here are the pros and cons.

Pros:

Relatively light for a true UST tire (though perhaps not by WW standards)
Grips very well
Rolls well
No burps, even with low pressure - Peace of mind in this regard goes a long way for me
Shed mud very well
Hold air well
Durable casing

Cons:

Low volume - must be careful in rocky terrain when running low pressure to avoid rim damage (this is my number one gripe)
The low volume also led to more crank/rock strikes with 180mm cranks
Expensive
Wear quickly
Not available with Black Chili at this point

Compared to the MK 2.4 UST in the front, I did not find that the 2.2 gave up anything in terms of grip. In fact, the shorter knobs on the 2.2 have a little less squirm. The 2.4 does give you the ability to plow through rock gardens with more impunity. Obviously, the 2.4 is heavier.

Compared to the Race King 2.2 UST in the rear, the RK rolls better and has more volume for better rim protection. The lack of side knobs on the RK means that there is little side grip on rocks, and the RK does not shed mud nearly as well. The MK 2.2 has slightly better grip when things get loose, due to the taller knobs, and the MK 2.2 is lighter.

Over the last few months of ownership, I should have added some sealant to the rear, which had developed some micro leaks, likely from the local star thistle. The rear would get soft over night.

UST won't leak down - sidewalls and carcass designed to be leak proof... non-UST tires, you'll likely get a tiny bit of leakdown as time goes by... just the nature of the sidewall/carcass... even with Stans, there is some micro porosity... but that's the downside to get lighter weight with non-UST tires...

Well, Iīve had about 4 rides with the MK USTīs and so far like them a lot. They roll faster and easier than Maxxis Highrollers and while descending they perform very well.

They retain air very well. They donīt have much grip or at least thatīs what I felt this weekend, because my friends and I went to a mountain called Malinche (the Malinche was the interpretor for Hernan Cortes when he came to America), and there were parts with solid terrain but it was a little bit wet and with humus... kinda like an ice skating track. I fell twice because the tire slipped on that terrain. Ok, maybe this could have happened with the Highrollers, or not. But none of my friends fell in that part (maybe Iīm not as good as they are).

So who knows, so far Iīm happy with them, as someone iin this thread previously said, this is a bulletproof set up, but weīll see in the mid term how it behaves.